AN: Okay, I wrote this in 2018 and it's been ROTTING on my laptop ever since, so I posted it on AO3 recently...

Anyways I love the Black Sisters (even the insane one, though I won't defend her actions, I just think she's super interesting as a character)!

Can't remember
What I used to fight for

Writting Letters Addressed To The Fire

I. Atropos (Bellatrix)

Bellatrix Black is certain she hates Ted Tonks, mere seconds after setting her eyes on him for the first time. It only makes sense- she's a pure-blood witch, descendant from The Most Noble And Ancient House Of Black, the closest thing to royalty there is in the Wizarding World, and it only seems natural for her to look down upon those she considers inferior to her. She doesn't question her own logic, not even once, because she never feels the need to. It's something most of the students of Hogwarts seem to have accepted, by fear of the consequences even the smallest rebellion against the Slytherins could have.

She has every reason to hate him. After all, he's a muggleborn- or a Mudblood, as she always calls him- and the Wizarding World doesn't need him to spawn half-bloods, or worse, more of his kind with his turpitude, and the fact that Mudbloods are gaining confidence is the only spark her hate needs to erupt into a full fledged fire. They're everything that is wrong with the Wizarding World, and it only seems fair for them to punish for their past crimes.

So, she hexes him left and right, from time to time. It's not her favourite pastime, but she has to admit she takes some form of sadistic pleasure from seeing them coward in fear.

Bellatrix has always hated Ted Tonks, but it's not until Andromeda leaves a letter explaining that she's running off with him that Bellatrix truly starts to despise him. He's taking away her sister, her own flesh and blood, and Bellatrix doesn't hide the fact that she'd rather he be dead than alive and in love with Andromeda. Mother is livid, Father is taking his anger out on everyone, Aunt Walburga has already blasted her off the family tapestry, and nothing Bellatrix will ever do can bring her sister back. All of this only fuels the fire inside her more and more, until it completely takes over.

It all happens day before Andromeda is supposed to marry Rabastan Lestrange, and Bellatrix supposes that her running off was the only possible outcome.

It's been staring right at her for a while, now: she's not as oblivious as her sister would have liked her to be, and she's known Andromeda to have unhappy for a while now.

But Andromeda becomes a traitor too, when she decides to leave with a Mudblood. So, Bellatrix hates her, or so she seems to want to, because she feels no sympathy for blood traitors, and Andromeda will never be more to her than that to her, from that moment on.

"I hate her," she tells Narcissa on a daily basis, "Why did she have to go and run off with a fucking Mudblood? I swear, I'll kill them both," she says through gritted teeth.

She never admits she feels abandoned by her own sister, because, despite the fact she is closer to Narcissa than she has ever been to Andromeda, the painful sting of betrayal is a constant reminder of their unmendable, broken bond. Thinking about this makes her grit her teeth in frustration, and she blames it on the burning anger she should feel for Andromeda, but she finds herself to be more upset about her sister choosing love over them than anything else (of course, she still despises Ted for being a Mudblood).

She's mad at Andromeda, but words can't begin to explain the intense hatred she feels for Ted. How dare he steal her sister away? How dare a Mudblood like him rip their family apart, as if it were nothing?

Her frustrations turn into anger, because that's all she can afford, and that's all she wants to feel. She's blinded by it, as it takes over her in a way that's never been done before.

She's slipping away, and so is her mind, as she becomes more and more obsessed with Voldemort every day, and she doesn't see the way Narcissa eyes her whenever she mentions going on a mission for him.

Alas, Narcissa can't be here to watch over her sister all the time, and there is no one to tether her to the real world anymore.

Bellatrix Black hates Ted Tonks, but Bellatrix Lestrange despises him with all her soul.